Dmart recasts strategy as rapid delivery competition intensifies

Avenue Supermarts (DMart) reported first-quarter net income of 9.3 billion rupees ($98 million) on revenue of 183.43 billion rupees, missing estimates, as it discontinued DMart Ready e-commerce operations in seven marginal cities and now operates in 11 cities focused on larger metros. The retailer opened three new stores taking the total to 503, but older stores in large metros posted flat growth while non-metro stores continued to grow well. The strategic pullback comes amid intensifying rapid-delivery competition from Amazon, Flipkart, Eternal, Zepto, and Swiggy.